The present invention relates to a rubber composition suitable for use in various grips, e.g., grips of golf clubs, grips of tennis rackets, grips to be attached to handlebars of bicycles, motorcycles or cultivators, and grips to be attached to tools such as hammers, and also relates to a grip prepared from the composition.
In general, as the properties to be required for grips, it is important that they are not slippery and have a good feeling of touch. It is also desirable that they have a cushioning action to an impact.
A representative grip which has a good feeling of touch is a grip made of leather. Grips made of rubber have also been used. For example, there are known grips made from rubber compositions containing, as a base rubber, natural rubber alone, an ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM), or a blend of natural rubber and a styrene-butadiene rubber (Japanese Patent Publication Kokai No. 1-306446). These rubber grips have a good non-slipping property.
However, these grips have some deficiencies. For example, if grips made of leather once get wet as a result of use in a rainy day, hardening of the leather is marked and the grips lose their original good feeling of touch. Grips made from rubber compositions containing natural rubber or a blend of natural rubber and SBR deteriorate with the lapse of time, thus losing a non-slipping property and a good feeling of touch. Grips made from rubber compositions containing EPDM as a base rubber component have the advantage that they are more resistant to deterioration, but they have the disadvantages that they do not give a good feeling of touch, and they are slippery particularly when they get wet in a rainy day, and they give a large impact at a mis-shot of a golf ball.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a rubber composition suitable for preparing grips used in various articles.
Another object of the present invention is to provide grips which have a good feeling of touch, which can maintain a good non-slipping property regardless of fine weather and rainy weather, and which only give a small impact at mis-shot of golf balls.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the description hereinafter.